Couple made sure Flagler Drive home highlighted views, outdoor living

Wednesday

Interior designer Lou Marotta is accustomed to the hard work and stress that comes with completely overhauling houses.

So he was happy that the re-do of his 1926 Mediterranean-style home — facing the Intracoastal Waterway at 2701 S. Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach — turned out to far less labor-intensive.

"It had been owned by friends of ours and they did a great job renovating it," Marotta explains. "Usually, I have to tear everything out, but in this case, the house had so much going for it. We did touch every surface — some major, some minor — but the bones were there."

He and his husband, Mike Fullwood, came to the Palm Beach area a few years ago from New York City after their retirement, following a brief sojourn in Palm Springs, Calif. Today, however, they are making plans to spend time at their home in the Hamptons, and they’ve co-listed their three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath house with agents Lisa Cregan and Christine Gibbons of Sotheby’s International Realty.

With 4,268 square feet of living space, inside and out, it’s priced at $3.395 million.

The house stands on the corner of Flagler and Belmonte Road, with the main entry facing Belmonte. Just south of the foyer, the formal dining room — the heart of the home — is flanked by the sunroom to the east and the living room to the west. The stair hall lies to its south, and the kitchen and a guest bedroom suite are on the south side of the house.

Upstairs, the master suite has a bedroom offering Intracoastal Waterway views. In addition to the bathroom and dressing room, the suite has an office that opens to a large arbor-covered balcony.

West of the main house is a two-car garage with a second-floor guest suite.

Set amid lush gardens, the house is sited to allow for a variety of outdoor rooms. Off the guest bedroom and living room, a covered terrace runs along the west side of the house opening to an outdoor "living room."

On the Flagler Drive side are an outdoor dining space and a spot for sunbathing, with the pool in the corner of the yard. Outside the sunroom is a space for alfresco breakfasts, and along the south side is a tropical "green woods" — in Marotta’s words — planted with ficus, travelers palms, areca palms and birds of paradise.

Every outdoor space has a purpose. In front of the garage, for example, behind an electronic fence, lies a brick driveway shaded by a covered pergola. The driveway can be used to park another car securely, or it can be transformed into a dining area for parties.

"It’s kind of glorious, surrounded by bamboo and very private. We’ve put tables out for 25 people," Marotta says.

Although Marotta is an interior designer, he also studied landscape architecture, and as such, he concentrated on ensuring that sight lines from the house would capture perfect views.

"From all windows, you look out on beautiful vignettes," he says, adding that the water views stretch from the Royal Park Bridge to the Southern Boulevard Bridge.

Focal points on the Palm Beach side include the Town Docks, Everglades Island and President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Patios are covered in matte-painted stone tiles — the same style found in the interior of the house — for a seamless transition. But in the foyer, the floor is walnut.

"The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball ‘Pink Ground,’ and a big window overlooks the Intracoastal, setting the stage as soon as you walk in," he says.

The foyer’s ceiling is pecky cypress, and the arched door is glass with an iron grating. That lacy ironwork carries through to the dining room, where the wrought-iron chandelier served as inspiration for the whimsical hand-painted mural details by New York artist Chuck Fischer.

"The room functions as an outdoor space, even though it’s an interior space," Marotta says. "Double arches go to the living room and sunroom, and a single arch goes to the stairwell. Surrounding rooms feel like loggias off of a center gazebo space."

The dining room’s features include a barrel-vaulted ceiling, a fireplace and a terra-cotta tile inset in the stone floor.

The sunroom has a pecky-cypress ceiling. The living room, with its built-in cabinetry, works as an entertaining space as well as a media room.

"The house doesn’t have any baseboards or crown moldings," Marotta says. "Even though it’s a 1926 Spanish Revival, its lack of moldings gives it a clean modern look. We painted the interior of the ceiling cove peach, so that when lighted, it gives a nice pink glow."

The three bedroom suites, in the main house and guest quarters, are private and each accesses a balcony or terrace.

"We want to simplify and spend more time north, but we adore this house," Marotta says. "My heart is here."